TwispWorks and the Mary Kiesau Community Fellowship Fund are proud to announce the 2025 award recipients: Margaret Kingston and Lauren Iida.
Lauren Iida is a Japanese American paper cut artist, public artist, and arts administrator who has spent several chapters of her life in the Methow Valley.
She graduated from Liberty Bell High School in 2003. Her work is rooted at the intersection of art and social justice. She has used her ongoing installation project, Memory Net, to engage with people around the world and bring attention to important issues including Japanese American incarceration during WWII, the war in Ukraine, nuclear waste legacy, and homelessness.
For her upcoming project, Lauren will add a new layer of meaning to Memory Net with a temporary installation that invites public participation.
See more of her work [here].
Lauren Iida finishes “Things we Left Behind” (2024) Ink-washed hand-cut paper installation
Margaret Kingston is an oil painter and art educator, originally from New Hampshire.
Mary Kiesau became one of Margaret’s first friends when she moved to the Methow Valley 13 years ago and continues to inspire her dedication to capturing the natural beauty of the PNW and our local landscape.
The MKCF award will support Margaret’s development of plein air painting skills and to begin teaching painting classes for others with similar goals. Margaret shows her work regularly at the Confluence Gallery in Twisp, including a large centerpiece painting for their recent climate change exhibition.
See more of her work [here].
Margaret Kingston in her studio, pictured above is her work Mt Baker – Park Glacier Headwall 20×16” canvas